2002-10-01 04:00:00 PDT Washington -- Proponents of comprehensive sex education accused the Bush administration Monday of waging a widespread campaign of disinformation and intimidation that is hampering AIDS prevention work across the country.

The activists said several government audits, aggressive promotion of abstinence-only programs, and a retreat from earlier prevention efforts may put young people and minorities at increased risk of unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

"Whenever AIDS educators are repressed and harassed and kept from doing their jobs, the epidemic is the big winner," said Joanne Csete, director of HIV/AIDS programs at Human Rights Watch.

The accusations are part of an intensifying debate occurring as Congress considers President Bush's request to increase abstinence-only funding to $135 million. Administration officials, while arguing that abstinence is the only guaranteed protection, denied there is any effort to single out liberal organizations that promote "safe sex" through contraceptive use.

"We believe young people across the board should abstain until marriage," said Claude Allen, deputy secretary of health and human services. If that fails, "fidelity is the next-safest protection against contraction of disease, " followed by condom use.

In several instances, federal health officials said they are conducting investigations at the behest of lawmakers. The lawmakers have complained about federally funded groups that distribute explicit sexual materials and play down the importance of faith, and about activists who heckled Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson at an international AIDS conference.

"We are obligated under law to follow through," Allen said.

Thompson has, however, expanded a review of the San Francisco's Stop AIDS Project to "all department-funded HIV/AIDS activities." He has authorized a new audit of HIV-related projects at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, just months after a $1 million review was completed.

Allen said the review ordered by Thompson focuses more on management performance than any single group receiving federal money. The administration's primary goal, he said, is to find "the best science to resolve and address the issue of HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases."